Counterparts 4
by KawaiiYanderlee
Summary: Having to temporarily close Moon Mountain for repairs, the gang gets to pay a visit to Dustin's sister, Claire. Being on a house for the first time seems like an adventure for the animatronics, but the things that await in there can turn their 'vacation' into a living nightmare from which they may never escape. Turns out, it's true that terrible things come in small packages.
1. Going Home

"Give it to me!"

"Stop!"

"You're making it worse!"

"Come back here!"

"It's mine!"

"You're messing everything up!"

Several yells awakened Dustin's and Daisuke's attention. Chica and Toy Chica came into the dining area, apparently fighting over their cupcake.

"Hey, hey, what's going on here?" Dustin asked with a little snigger.

"I'm trying to decorate my cupcake but she's messing it all up!" Toy Chica complained as she held the cupcake away from Chica.

"No, you're the one making it worse!" Chica countered back.

"This cupcake is mine!"

"It's _ours_!"

" _Alright, just decorate together. Is that much of a problem?"_ Daisuke tried to get them to stop. He wasn't worried at all, Chica and Toy Chica were close friends and they'd never argue seriously. However, they really could get pretty protective around their cupcake.

"Fine." both of them grunted at the same time, giving each other mad glares, albeit in a joking way. As they left, Chica still tried to snatch the cupcake, causing her and Toy Chica to giggle.

Dustin gave a sigh. "Always, no matter what, when or how, a funny scene always opens up the days here." He smiled, giving a little chuckle.

" _Those you call funny scenes can be considered as the normal things you'd see every day. After all, they always happen."_ Daisuke said calmly.

Suddenly, a small piece of the ceiling fell and landed gently on Dustin's shoulder, though it still startled him a bit. Sprinkling his shoulder, both he and Daisuke looked up. There were a few cracks on the ceiling. Dustin started to notice them quite a long time ago. Right then, Jack came back. "Oh, hello Dustin." he greeted him, receiving a wave from the boy.

"Did you notice all the cracks on the ceiling?" Dustin asked the owner, who looked up.

"Yeah, this place is really old. I actually called some workmen to come fix that up."

"Great. I'd love to see this place all fixed up."

"Well, the only problem is…" Jack seemed a bit unsure. Daisuke and Dustin looked at him expectantly. "There's a lot of work to do here. When the workmen arrive, we'll barely have space for ourselves. Plus, they'll take a while to fix everything. It's not only the cracks on the ceiling, I actually want many other things as good as new."

"I see…" Dustin muttered. "How long will that take?"

"As far as I know, it might be around a week, or two."

Dustin gritted his teeth with a nervous hiss. "Where are we going to stay for all that time if we can't be here?" he asked, rather worried. Jack shrugged. Dustin looked at Daisuke, wondering if he knew what to do. He shook his head.

"Are you sure we have to… leave?"

"I can't let the ceiling fall on our customers." Jack said it with a chuckle.

"The what is gonna fall on who?" White Fang's alarmed voice chimed in as she came running into the scene.

"Don't worry, nothing is going to fall on anyone." Jack calmed her down. "We need to leave the workmen some space to work, as I'm going to have this place remodeled a little and get the ceiling and walls fixed up."

White Fang's shoulder limped down as she let out a relieved sigh. "You scared me there."

Dustin's eyes sparkled up. "Of course!" he said happily.

"What is it?" White Fang asked, wondering what came to his mind.

"We can spend time on my sister's house."

" _Aren't we too many to fit in a house?"_ Daisuke questioned, giving a little frown.

"Nah," Dustin waved his hand. "It's a big house. Know what, I'm gonna call her now. I'm sure she'll love to have us visiting."

He stood up, searching for his phone on his pocket. "I like that idea." White Fang said. "I'm sure it'll be great to go somewhere else for a little time. It's like some kind of vacation!"

She looked at Daisuke, who seemed to be thinking on something. _"I'm wondering… how are we going to go to that house?"_

"Oh, yeah…" White Fang realized. It'd be weird to see loads of animatronics walking around the streets. Not only that, but Dustin's sister's house wasn't anywhere near there.

Dustin peeked over a corner, holding the phone on his hand. "Jack, when are the workmen going to come?"

"In a couple of days, if I'm not wrong."

The boy gave him a thumbs up as he continued talking with his sister. Soon after, Chica and Toy Chica came back.

"We're going to spend some time at Dustin's sister's house." White Fang informed them.

"Why?" Chica asked.

"We're going to close for repairs." Jack told her.

"Works for me." Toy Chica said cheerfully. "I'll tell the others."

"Okay, I've got everything planned out." Dustin announced as he came back. "My sister is willing to see us, so there'll be nothing wrong. You all will fit perfectly there, nothing to worry about."

"But how are you going to bring us all there?" Chica asked.

Dustin scratched the back of his head. "Well, I came up with an idea, but… you guys won't like it that much…"

White Fang's eyes widened slowly. It was just like she read Dustin's mind. "Please don't tell me we have to go on the car boot again…" she muttered in a letdown. Much to her dismay, Dustin simpered at her, making her give out a long grunt.

"Come on, it can't be that bad. It'll be worse for me, I'll have to make several leavings and returnings since you all don't fit on the car at once."

"Well, I guess a little trip on a car boot won't hurt anybody." Chica muttered, still not content with the idea.

* * *

After everything was explained and planned out, the animatronics were ready to leave the next morning. Since getting all of them to the house was going to be a long process, they decided to leave early. The sooner it was done, the better. Freddy, Bonnie, Chica and Foxy would go first, then the Toys, and then the rest, without including Golden Freddy. He could simply teleport to the house.

"Let's go, boys." Dustin said as he got next to the car. The animatronics hesitated.

"Do we really have to do this?" Bonnie complained.

Dustin looked at him as he opened the car's door. "You can travel here, or you can walk around the street with tons of people looking at you." He made a mocking grin as he entered the car.

"Fine…" the bunny drawled with an eye roll.

"Kinda funny how you first laughed at us when we had to go in there, remember?" JJ scoffed. When they were at Fazbear's Fright, she and White Fang also had to go on Hiro's car boot. "Now look who's laughing at who."

* * *

When they finally arrived, Dustin's sister, Claire, was waiting for them. She had long, flowing brown hair and heartwarming blue eyes, accompanied by a lovable smile. She sure seemed like a nice person.

"Where have you been, Dusty?" she greeted her brother as he came out of the car and opened the boot.

"Doing lots of crazy stuff." he giggled.

As soon as the door opened, the animatronics came out at once. "Freedom…!" Chica yelled, stretching her arms.

"Never _ever_ again." Bonnie vociferated.

"You guys had a nice ride, eh?" Claire chuckled gently.

"Oh, so you are Dustin's sister?" Freddy asked, receiving a nod from the girl. "You two are identical."

"They tell us that a lot." Dustin sniggered. "Well, I'm going back to the restaurant. I need to get the rest. You guys walk around freely, no one's going to stop you." He got onto the car and drove off, waving at Claire as he did so.

"Wow, Dustin wasn't lying. Your house truly is big." Chica said, surprised, as she looked at the house. It was big indeed, and had an upstairs room as well. The animatronics were rather glad it wasn't any kind of apartment. Soon after Dustin left, the voice of children could be heard from the house's back. A short, scrawny boy came running past the animatronics, followed by a much bulkier kid who was chasing him and laughing mockingly. It didn't seem like a game at all, the other kid clearly wasn't enjoying the pursuit.

The same boy came running back, and as soon as he had the chance, he jumped onto his mother's arms. The other halted, still laughing. They were Claire's sons, Erik, the young one, and Zach, his bully brother. "Oh, boo-hoo. What, too tired to keep running like a baby?" Zach mocked his little brother.

"Zach, that's about enough." Claire scolded him. "Go inside. Now." She gave the kid a death glare, letting him no choice other than walk inside the house with a grunt. She gently let Erik down. He sure was exhausted.

"What happened now, honey?" Claire asked him with a warm voice, stroking his auburn hair.

"He just started chasing me for no reason. As always." the little child replied lowly, his voice almost cracking. Meanwhile, the animatronics watched.

"You need to rest. Come on, you should go to bed."

"No," the boy snapped suddenly, taking a step back. "He's there, waiting for me to come in and scare me. He always does that. I don't want to go in."

Claire gave a saddened smile. "Don't worry, you'll be fine." She looked at the silent animatronics. "Do you want them to go with you?"

Erik looked up at them. He seemed really skittish, so the animatronics tried to look as innocent as possible. The young kid seemed perplexed as he looked at the robots. "You guys… you are actually real?"

"Sure we are." Freddy said sweetly.

"He always loved you all, ever since Dustin told me stories about you, and I told them to him." Claire informed them, wrapping an arm around Erik's shoulder. The animatronics smiled. "So, will you go if they are with you?"

Erik smiled and nodded. Claire kissed his forehead. "His room is upstairs, you won't get lost in there." She instructed the gang. "I'd go myself but I have things to do on the garden right now."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine." Freddy assured her.

* * *

 **And so, the next story starts.**

 **There are quite a lot of things I want to tell you. First, since the Counterparts series is following a different storyline, I had to make several changes on FNaF 4, which are these:**

 **-It all takes place after FNaF 3, obviously.**

 **-The Bite of 87 mentioned here never happened, never happens and will never happen.**

 **-I heard theories about the kid's brother's friends being the children Purple Guy killed. In this story, they'll of course be some other random kids.**

 **-Fredbear's Family Diner doesn't exist anymore around this setting.**

 **-The Nightmare animatronics won't be dreams/hallucinations, they'll be completely real.**

 **And one last thing – this story will be** _ **really**_ **sad. Prepare your handkerchiefs! It may also be a little, how to say it… strong. We are dealing with killer machines here, something bad has to happen.**

 **And this all said, see you in the next chapter!**


	2. Inspecting

"Is your brother really that bad?" Chica asked Erik as they walked towards the door.

"And these are just jokes." Erik replied, looking down as he walked. "He's done much worse things to me. And to my stuff."

"Like what?" Chica wondered, hoping she wouldn't bother the little boy.

Erik stopped in front of the door. "Well, I have a few dolls of you. They were a gift from my mother." he explained, slowly. "My brother's favorite has always been you, Foxy, even though you still scare me a little." He said the last words kind-heartedly, hoping it wouldn't annoy the fox. He simply smiled. "One night my brother came into my room and… ripped your doll's head off to use it as a mask to scare me…" Foxy's happy expression slowly faded into a shocked one.

"That's just… downright creepy. And mean." Bonnie grunted, almost perplexed at Zach's behavior. He sure wasn't the most pleasant brother to be around.

Erik gave a little shrug and opened the door, this making a low creak. Before entering, though, Erik looked from left to right, making sure his brother wasn't anywhere near there. With the cost clear, he held the door open for the animatronics to enter. They looked around them, bewildered. They haven't been in a house before, it was all completely different for them.

The floor was much softer than the tough ones from all the places they've been in. It was probably the first time the robots saw a blue floor. In Moon Mountain, Fazbear's Fright and their almost completely forgotten restaurant, the floor had always been checkered. The house had a white popcorn ceiling, the walls were red, and the whole place had old-styled decoration and large windows.

To the left side of the entrance was a closed door, in front of it were the stairs, and to the right was a hallway. Something about it seemed to catch Chica's attention widely.

"Is that a plushie of Springtrap?" she almost yelled, looking at the hallway. There was a rather big window from which a couple of trees could be seen, and beneath it, an unusual-looking plushie sat on a tall, white chair. An X was on the floor a few feet away from the chair, but no one seemed to pay attention to it.

"Oh, that one. Probably the creepiest toy in this house…" Erik muttered. "I can't even look at it. It's just… it's eyes…"

The stuffed bunny had its head tilted to the right, giving it a really haunting appearance. It was indeed a smaller and plush version of Springtrap, about the same size as the kid. It was almost exactly the same in design as its animatronic counterpart, but less damaged. It had a few brownish spots on its belly and ears. It also had four fingers and three toes. Its head was much larger than its body, with a small, black nose and white beady eyes with dark grey pupils that seemed to stare into you. But that wasn't the true out of place thing the toy had. Its teeth… It had many of them, and they were _sharp_. What kind of plushie could have such teeth was a mystery. And even more mysterious would be figuring out where it came from.

"Oh, now I can't wait to see Spring's face when he sees this little guy." Bonnie chuckled.

"That's something I'd want to see." Freddy said, smirking. Chica started giggling lowly.

"What are you laughing about?" Bonnie asked her.

"I just thought of something funny," she said between her chuckles. "If this is a plush version of Springtrap, then its name would be… Plushtrap," she laughed a bit louder.

"That's kinda cute, actually." Bonnie snickered.

"What are you looking at!" Zach's voice was suddenly heard yelling. Erik couldn't help but give a little shriek before covering his mouth, thing that startled the animatronics. Zach started laughing. "It's so easy to scare you. Hilarious."

"Come on, that isn't funny!" Chica yelled at the boy, annoyance on her eyes. Zach blew a raspberry.

"It is for me, Mrs. Ducky." he scoffed, crossing his arms.

" _Excuse_ me…?!" Chica snarled, having to be held back by Bonnie. "Control yourself," he tried to calm her down.

"I love how you all lose your nerves and are so easy to scare." the bulky kid sneered. Laughing loudly, he entered the first room at the left of the hall, which was his bedroom, and closed the door.

Chica growled, curling her hand into a fist, and letting out a long huff. "I _hate_ being called a duck."

"Congratulations, you just met my wonderful brother." Erik deadpanned sarcastically. Knowing that he wouldn't get more scares, he started walking up the stairs. "You guys coming?"

"Wait, go up there…?" Freddy drawled.

"Come on, they're just a few stairs." Chica tried to cheer him up, her voice still sounded annoyed.

Foxy hopped over a couple of stairs and turned to face the rest. "C'mon, afraid of some lil' stairs?" He followed Erik as if he had run up staircases a million times. Rather impressive since it was his first time.

The animatronics arrived upstairs. Right in front of the stair was a half-open white door that led to Erik's bedroom. There was a long hallway with two lights on the ceiling. There were a few pictures on the wall and a table with a lamp and a photo on top of it. At the end of the hall was a grandfather clock.

Erik opened the door, which also creaked. Everything in that house truly seemed old. The animatronics entered the bedroom. It was fairly large. The walls were white instead of red, and they were decorated with stars and paintings. An air vent could also be seen on the left wall. Next to the left door, there was a light switch. The ceiling was also a simple popcorn ceiling with a single light overhead. A toy caterpillar, a blue phone, and a purple robot were on the floor of the room.

There were two blue dressers in the room. The first consisted of 7 drawers. A few shirts were hanging out of one of them. A purple fan, a lava lamp, and an alarm clock sat on top of the dresser. The second dresser consisted of 3 drawers, and a lamp could be seen sitting on top of it. On either side of the bedroom were two doors, something that wasn't seen on every bedroom, and a slightly open closet with several shirts hanging from the hangers was in the middle.

The bed was twin-sized, even though Erik and Zach had their own bedrooms. Above the bed were two pictures, and next to it was a nightstand with a green and blue lamp on top. The blankets contained triangles of various colored patterns, and two pillows hid beneath them. The headboard was composed of several wooden pillars. Something that Freddy found cute about it was that there was a plushie of him on the bed.

Erik hopped onto the bed, making the plushie bounce with him. "Thanks for coming with me." he told the animatronics. "If I was alone, the scare Zach gave us would've been worse."

"That's what friends are for." Chica told him sweetly.

"Really? You consider me a friend?" Erik asked, his green eyes sparkling.

All the animatronics smiled at him.


	3. Peculiar Plushies

It really warmed up Erik's heart to see all those kind smiles, and he couldn't help but smile as well. He finally had true friends. No matter how sad it could sound, Erik's only friends were his mother and… a very peculiar pal of his that the animatronics hadn't seen yet.

"Wait, I just remembered something." The child said, coming down from the bed. "Be right back!" Since Zach had a tendency to spend lots of time on his bedroom, Erik knew it would be safe for him to walk around the house alone.

"Isn't he the sweetest kid you've ever met?" Chica said with a high-pitched voice once Erik left.

"He reminds me a lot of ours little boys." Bonnie agreed with her, sounding rather sad while he mentioned the children they've been attached to for so long. "So innocent and nice…" The three animatronics looked down, sharing the emotion.

Freddy took a little glare at the toys on the floor, but he seemed to be focusing on the purple robot the most. "It's funny…" he muttered. "Doesn't that robot remind you of a _certain someone_?"

The animatronics looked at the toy, knowing who Freddy was talking about. The robot indeed looked like Drago, and it made the gang feel uncomfortable for a moment. The robot had that monster's same appearance – purple, a yellow spot on its chest, a grinning expression…

"Weird coincidence, isn't it?" Chica giggled.

They all heard some footsteps at the stairs. Erik came back into the room, sliding through the half-closed door as he was holding a plushie on his hands and couldn't open it. The stuffed animal caught the animatronics' attention, since it was one of Golden Freddy. But that wasn't what seemed to surprise them the most. When he was active, Golden Freddy had gotten various remodels. Each of them had his top hat and bowtie changing to a different color. An old version had them black, the newer and last one had them blue – but the plushie had them purple. The version of Golden Freddy that had a purple top hat and bowtie was the oldest one, the first to ever be created. That plushie had to have ages.

"Hey, what've you got there?" Chica asked the little kid as he walked back onto the bed. She already knew what it was, but out of curiosity she decided to ask.

"It was a birthday gift from my mother," Erik replied. "I've had him for a long time. He's my best friend." He hugged the plushie like it was his most valued possession. And it was indeed, along with the animatronics' dolls he had mentioned before. The stuffed toy's eyes were downright startling, being the iconic black with white pupils, but Erik seemed to not pay attention. That toy signified much more to him than anyone could ever imagine. It wasn't just a plush for him. It was his friend, his mentor, his guide. It was always there when he needed him. And perhaps the most important thing about it was that it could talk. However, only Erik was able to hear it. It was like the little voice inside his head.

Erik yawned. "I need a little nap right now." he said endearingly. "If you walk around, just watch out for Zach. He might start pranking you." He slid under the covers, holding the Golden Freddy, or better said, Fredbear plushie close to him. Not wanting to disturb Erik, Freddy signaled the animatronics to go out. When they were gone, the Fredbear plushie moved its white eyes towards the peaceful boy.

" _Have a nice sleep."_

"Okay, what should we do now?" Bonnie asked once they were downstairs.

"I want to explore a little. We are going to spend a time here, so it's better if we know where we're going." Chica suggested.

"Good idea." Bonnie supported her. "I say we look at where those doors lead us." he prompted, looking at the hallway where the toy they had dubbed as Plushtrap was.

Foxy was the first to notice the X on the floor. "What be this for…?" he muttered, looking at it with a frown.

"No idea." Chica shrugged.

"Maybe it's some kind of weird decoration…" Bonnie made a wild guess.

"Or maybe something is supposed to be here." Freddy conjectured, surely making more sense than Bonnie.

"Oh well, let's look around, shall we?" Chica chimed in, apparently excited to see the whole house. They walked in the first doorway at the left.

None of them noticed that Plushtrap's eyes followed them as they entered.

The door let them to an almost empty room. There was only a wooden table with a couple of chairs situated at the far right corner, an empty showcase to the left of the door, a green lamp hanging from the ceiling and some wrinkled, blank papers scattered across the floor. Not much to see there.

The next room was the bathroom. Nothing much to see there either.

The one next to Zach's bedroom was some kind of game room. There were various toys on the floor, most of them broken. The rest were inside a basket, and those seemed newer. There was a red lamp with yellow circles on the ceiling, a small table with a couple of drawers and a pencil case on top, and several drawings on the wall.

"We should go see what's behind that other door," Chica signaled at the closed door to the left of the entrance. It led to the salon, and wasn't really large. There was a red couch placed against the wall, with a tall lamp next to it. A big dining table was in the middle of the room. The kitchen was in the salon as well.

"Now let's go see what's at the end of the halls." Bonnie suggested. There were a few annoyed sighs from Chica and Freddy, knowing they had to go upstairs again. The left hall led to a small room with a small, blue couch against the wall and the grandfather clock next to it. There was a door, which led to Claire's bedroom. Its decoration was girlish. There was a picture featuring a yellow flower and a wooden table with two drawers next to it, with an orange lamp sitting on it. The bed was completely pink with a white pillow.

It seemed that the biggest rooms in the house were the salon/kitchen and Erik's bedroom.

"Now that we know where everything is… Any ideas of what to do next?" Chica asked.


	4. Mysterious Duckout

"We should just talk and walk around while we wait for the others to come." Bonnie suggested. "From then on, we'll be able to do more stuff since we'll be more."

"Works for me." Chica said with a shrug.

After a little while, Dustin's car was heard from the distance. Claire was outside, about to enter the house, when she heard it. Her brother stopped in front of the house and got out the car.

"Tired?" Claire joked.

"Really funny," Dustin deadpanned as he walked towards the car boot. "This isn't as easy as I thought it would be."

As soon as the door opened, Toy Bonnie literally jumped out of it. "Finally!" he yelled. "I'm not going on a car ever again."

"I think you're forgetting you have to return," Toy Chica told him in a mocking sing-song way, causing Toy Bonnie to roll his eyes in annoyance.

"Oh my, you guys are absolutely adorable!" Claire yelled, her hands on her cheeks. The Toys blushed a bit.

"Really it's not the first time someone tells us that…" Mangle muttered, feeling flattered. Claire gave a gentle giggle, her smile as bright as daylight. It was one of the many things that made her a lovable person.

A sigh was heard from Dustin. "Well, just two more rides. I'll be back as soon as I can." He got onto the car, looking really tired. Going to Moon Mountain and back to the house, then repeat it two more times wasn't something Dustin was willing to do. Once again, he waved at Claire as he left, and she waved back.

"Hey guys!" Chica called from the entrance door, getting the Toys to look at her. "Well don't just stand there, come over here!"

The Toys entered and looked around. The others were upstairs, not yet aware of their friends' presence. "Hey, didn't you bring the cupcake?" Chica lowly asked Toy Chica, sounding both angry and confused. Toy Chica seemed to freeze for a second.

"No, we are taking some free time, we don't need it now…" she lied. Chica shot her a mad glare.

"You forgot it, right?"

Toy Chica's silence and innocent face meant a thousand words.

"Aw, I was waiting for you specially to see how pretty we left it." Chica complained, again pretending to be angry.

"Come on, it's not the end of the world." Toy Chica said, giving her counterpart a prod on her shoulder.

"This floor is so weird…" Mangle muttered. Just like the rest, he was really used to the tough, rather slippery floors they've been attached to since day one. "I like it." he added cheerfully.

"Wow, is that like… a tiny Springtrap or something?" Toy Bonnie asked bewildered as he looked at Plushtrap.

"Yep." Chica replied. "We named it Plushtrap."

A giggle was heard from Mangle. "Really?"

"Coming from you, I wouldn't have expected anything else." Toy Freddy commented, showing a little smile.

"Thanks for not saying anything," Bonnie's voice was heard upstairs. "Did you forget us or what?"

Freddy soon shushed him as he walked next to him, keeping in mind that Erik was still sleeping and the doors were open.

"Sorry." Bonnie muttered in a lower voice. "Come up here."

"What? Me? Walking up all that?" Mangle complained, frowning in disapproval. "How about no."

"Ah, don't be a wimp. They're just stairs." Toy Bonnie said, sounding as if he was sneering at Mangle, causing him to furrow his eyebrows into an angry expression.

Once all of them were upstairs (all of them but Mangle), the animatronics showed the Toys everything around, told them about the two bickering kids, all the things they found… The main focus of the chatter seemed to be the Fredbear plushie Erik was so attached to. It was a huge mystery, especially for the animatronics. And so was Plushtrap. Those two could very well have existed in the first Fredbear's Family Diner ever to have opened – if they were, it was a huge and extremely important discovery. While for Dustin and Claire they were simple plushies, close friends for Erik and stupid things for Zach, they were a lost piece of history for all the animatronics. They just had to figure out where exactly they came from.

After some chitter-chatter between the animatronics, inspections around the house and some time talking to Claire and avoiding Zach's vicious jokes (such as calling Toy Bonnie a girl, making Mangle panic, calling Toy Freddy a "fattie" and alike stuff), Dustin finally came back.

Since Mangle didn't go upstairs yet, he was waiting near the door's entrance. Boredom and fatigue present on his eyes, Dustin came out. "Oh hi Mangle." he murmured, opening the car boot for the third time already. Just like the other animatronics did, Springtrap and Daisuke came out the first, loaded with annoyance. Out of all, their travel seemed to have been the worse. Not only the car was more filled than before, but BB and JJ also wouldn't stop talking and making jokes.

"This. Was. Horrible." Springtrap complained, not to Dustin's surprise. Golden Freddy soon appeared next to him.

"Lucky you, you didn't have to go through this horrible ride." White Fang told him, irritated.

"We were just trying to make the trip shorter…" BB said innocently, hands behind his back.

"You actually made it longer, but the effort is appreciated." Springtrap mumbled, with that common coarse hint on his words.

"But we can make more jokes on the way back, right?" JJ asked, her eyes sparkling.

" _No...!"_ Daisuke almost yelled out of annoyance, before calming himself down and gently repeating, _"No. I've had about enough of them. Don't."_ JJ put a disappointed expression, hard to notice due to her permanent smile.

"Hey, Spring," Mangle called for Springtrap, soon getting his attention. "I think Chica and the others wanted you to see something. You should go look what they want."

"Why not," Springtrap muttered. He really was tired and vexed, no wonder he was rather moody.

"Hi Springy!" Chica popped out the front door, slightly scaring Springtrap.

"Don't call me that." he deadpanned.

"Whatever, I just want you to see something, come on!" She walked inside, excitement present on her words. "Look, we just found this little guy, see, he's right –"

When Chica pointed at the hallway, Plushtrap was gone. "…there." she finished lamely.

With a blink, Springtrap looked at her weirdly. "I- I swear it was there!" Chica tried to explain.

"What was there?" Springtrap asked, still not knowing what she was talking about.

"The plush version of you! It was right there, sitting on that chair!"

Springtrap's expression showed a high insecurity. Chica knew he didn't believe her at all. Fortunately for her, Toy Freddy came in from the door that led to the salon. "Look, ask Toy Freddy, he never lies!" Chica immediately ran to his side.

"What?" Toy Freddy asked in confusion.

"Plushtrap was there, right?"

Springtrap frowned when he heard that ridiculous name. Toy Freddy looked at the hall, "'Was'? Isn't it –" Much to his surprise, he also noticed the missing plushie. He and Chica exchanged puzzled expressions.

"Maybe Erik took him or something…" Chica said thoughtfully.

"Impossible." Freddy said from upstairs, overhearing the conversation and being fully aware of what was going on. "He's still sleeping."

"Then it must've been his brother who took it." Chica guessed.

"I didn't take your stupid toy," Zach sassed from behind her, walking towards his room. "In fact, it's right, there, much bigger."

Knowing he was talking about him, Springtrap gave him an angered look. With a chuckle, Zach entered his room and closed the door with in a rather harsh way – how not, he did that in a small attempt to disturb Erik's sleep. Fortunately, he didn't bother the little boy at all.

"And who's this little jerk?" Springtrap asked, not taking his view of the door. Still shaken by the fact that Plushtrap disappeared, Chica took a little while to answer.

"That's Zach, one of Claire's two kids."

"Does that mean he has a brother…?"

"Don't worry, his brother Erik is a charm."

Toy Freddy motioned with his head upstairs, so Springtrap followed him to meet with the rest. Chica still stared at the empty chair. If Erik, Zach, Claire or the animatronics didn't take it, did it mean it moved on its own?

That couldn't be possible…

"What are you looking at?" White Fang asked her as she came inside.

"Nothing…" Chica muttered, not wanting to possibly scare her friend.

The rest finally came in, along with Dustin and Claire. "I'm going to get a well deserved sleep on the couch. See you in some good few hours or so." Dustin almost limped towards the door leading to the salon.

Meanwhile, BB looked at the stairs with a frown. He turned to look at Golden Freddy and Daisuke. "You two are lucky. You don't have to go up there physically."

"It's not so bad." JJ giggled. She patted BB on the shoulder playfully, yelling, "Catch me if you can!" as she ran up the stairs.

"Oh yeah?" BB laughed, following her.

Their little games seemed to be the only thing that drove Chica's attention off the hallway. _"Is there something bothering you?"_ Daisuke asked her, noticing the worry on her eyes.

"It's nothing, really." she murmured. "There was an old Springtrap plushie on that chair and now it's gone… I'm sure it has a logical explanation." She went up the stairs, and Daisuke couldn't help but frown.

"An old plushie…" Golden Freddy repeated in a thoughtful voice. Daisuke looked at him. "There used to be plushies of us…"

" _You should figure out what plush she's talking about."_ Daisuke told him. With no hesitation, Golden Freddy teleported upstairs while Daisuke floated up the staircase. The animatronics were reunited at the end of the hall. _"Chica,"_ Daisuke called for Chica. _"Could you give us further information about that Springtrap plushie?"_

"Further information?" Toy Bonnie asked. "Isn't it down there?"

"It's gone." Freddy told him, causing his eyes to slightly widen.

"Gone?" Foxy repeated, a bit startled.

"Yeah, and that's not the only thing." Chica said. "There's also a plushie of Golden Freddy with a purple top hat and bowtie, and has moving eyes."

Golden Freddy seemed perplexed for a moment.

Meanwhile, in Erik's bedroom, the Fredbear plushie showed signs of life. Its white eyes moved towards the peaceful boy.

" _Wake up. It's getting late."_

Erik's eyes blinked slowly a few times, half-open. Tiredly, the boy sat up on the bed, rubbing his eyes. "What- what time is it…?" he asked sleepily.

" _It's almost night time. Everyone's here already."_

"What? The rest arrived?"

The plushie made a slight nod.

"Alright, alright, I'm going."


	5. Sightings

Just as Erik got up from the bed, deep thunder rumbled outside. "Oh great…" the kid muttered. He walked towards the nightstand and opened the drawer, picking up a flashlight and leaving it next to the lamp. Blackouts were pretty common at that house, and with a storm approaching, one was bound to happen. "I hope the lights don't go off now."

Erik grabbed the plushie from the bed and came out his room, soon seeing the animatronics at the far end of the hall. He stopped near the door, showing insecurity. "They sure are a lot…" he mumbled.

" _Don't worry."_ the Fredbear plushie told him. _"I am here with you."_

Still rather unsure, Erik walked towards the animatronics. "Hey, you're awake!" Chica yelled happily, willing for Erik to meet the others.

"Hi there!" Toy Bonnie waved joyfully as the other two Toys smiled.

White Fang let out a little chirp, "Aw, aren't you a cutie?"

Erik made a silly smile "Okay, okay, all these comments are starting to make me feel flattered…" he said cutely, leaving the Fredbear plushie on the couch. It immediately caught Golden Freddy's attention. He needed to know more about that toy.

More thunder roared outside. A few raindrops could already be heard. "It's gonna rain a lot." Toy Chica pointed out.

A small chuckle from Zach came room the stairs. "Hey, look Erik, a thunderstorm, it's the end of the world!" he sneered, walking towards Claire's room with a book on his hands. His mother had told him to leave it there as she had work to do. Erik rolled his eyes at the lame joke – he was fearful, but not stupid.

"I hate him already." Toy Freddy muttered almost with hatred, receiving several agreement nods.

" _You're exaggerating."_ Daisuke chimed in. _"He cannot be that bad."_

"What are you looking at, clown?" Zach said cheekily at him as he walked past, downstairs.

Chica gave Daisuke a told-you-so frown, while he stared speechless at the stairs. _"Fine, I see your point…"_ he finally gave up. _"But that's not so horrible, it's just talking like a brat."_

"You think so?" Erik said, kinda angrily. "If you knew the things he could do…"

"Is there anything worse than these insults and jokes?" Bonnie asked, receiving a nod from Erik.

"He does many more things. For example, when we go to the park or anything like that, he brings his friends only to make my day into a…" he stopped, trying to find the appropriate words. "Into a 'daymare'."

He walked towards the couch, grabbing the plushie as he muttered, "And sometimes he tends to snatch Buddy and hide him away from me…" The animatronics understood that Buddy was the name Erik put to the stuffed toy.

"Best brother ever, eh?" Toy Bonnie said sarcastically, but still sounding sad.

Erik sighed. "Welcome to my life."

* * *

Once it was night time, the storm gained strength. It was raining powerfully outside and the beams echoed all over. Not a surprise, the power already went out. Freddy, Chica, Bonnie and Foxy decided to stay in Erik's bedroom, illuminated by his flashlight, while the others were downstairs, helped by candles.

"I hate when this happens." Erik protested, lightly throwing the flashlight from one hand to another.

"It's pretty dark in here." Bonnie commented.

"You bet." Erik agreed with him, turning off the flashlight to see how truly dark it was. Everything was pitch-black, briefly illuminated by the light of a beam that was seen through the windows of the right hall. Suddenly, the grandfather clock started a chime – it was 12 AM. It startled Erik enough to turn on the flashlight immediately, this almost slipping off his hands.

"Well, creepy clock is creepy." Chica giggled, also shaken by the sudden noise. The twelve chimes started. It sure gave the place a haunting ambiance.

After a little while, no one had gone to sleep yet. They were just talking about anything while overhearing the rain outside. It was 3 AM and it still didn't stop. "Hey Erik, can you give me the flashlight?" Chica asked Erik.

"Sure." he said, handling her the flashlight. "For what?"

"I just never used one before, I'm curious."

She flickered it on and off a couple of times. "I wonder how the halls look like with the flashlight on."

"Why do you want to flash the light at the halls?" Bonnie asked, really confused.

"I'm just bored." Chica replied dryly, inquisitively flashing on and off the light at the hall. It seemed like something could suddenly pop out.

And that was exactly what happened.

The fourth time Chica turned on the flashlight, a bulky figure hid behind the corner at the end of the hall.

Chica's eyes widened in awe, immediately stopping playing with the light. "Is something wrong?" Freddy asked, noticing how shocked she looked.

"I- I… I think I saw something out there…" she stuttered.

"Must've been Zach." Freddy simply said.

"At this hour?" Erik chimed in, looking at the alarm clock. "He'd be snoring right now."

Unsecure, Chica peeked out the door, turning on the flashlight and lowly yelling, "Zach, this isn't funny!" She got no reply. Nothing was heard except for the rain. She seemed to have realized something. "Hey…" she looked at Erik. "You said Zach uses a Foxy head to scare you, right?" The boy nodded, apparently increasing Chica's nervousness. "Well… whatever I saw there didn't look like him at all…"

"You must be seeing things." Bonnie told her, making Freddy and Foxy nod in agreement. Trying to calm down, Chica accepted to realize that it may have been a mistake.

* * *

The next morning, Dustin woke up soon and went upstairs to grab something from Claire's bedroom when something made him stop short on his tracks. Also awake, Bonnie came out of the bedroom. "Morning Dustin!" he greeted the boy.

"Hey Bonnie, come here for a second." he told the animatronic. When Bonnie reached his side, his eyes widened.

"Were those scratches on the wall last night?"

The wall was full of deep, criss-crossed claw marks. Bonnie stammered a bit before saying anything. "N-no…?" he managed to say. Dustin caressed one of the claw marks. They couldn't have been made by anyone in the house, that was clear. "I'll go get the others."

Soon enough, everyone's attention was on the mysterious marks on the wall. No one knew how they got there, who made them, or why. "Do you think this has to do with… that 'thing' I saw last night?" Chica asked her friends nervously. They remained silent, thoughtful.

"I promise you it wasn't me." Zach told Claire before she could even say anything, knowing she would end up blaming him.

"This has to have a logical explanation…" Dustin muttered, even though he knew the possibilities were almost null. "Don't you have a cat or something?"

"A cat, or maybe a lion." Toy Bonnie joked.

From then, the claw marks made no sense. None of the animatronics could've made them, neither Zach nor Erik were capable of doing so, Claire and Dustin had no reasons to, there were no animals on the house…It was a complete mystery.


	6. Trouble With Plushtrap

A while after, the animatronics had reunited downstairs to discuss the strange situation, while Dustin and Claire inspected the claw marks and tried to get a reasonable explanation out. Zach and Erik were on their respective bedrooms in the meanwhile.

"It just doesn't make sense." Bonnie commented, worry present on his voice as he walked around. "Something like that doesn't just… happen."

"I still think it has something to do with that 'thing' I saw last night." Chica said dryly, looking somewhat startled.

"Can you describe what you saw?" Freddy asked her, intrigued as to what Chica might have seen.

"Well, it was a yellow or golden color as I could see." the chicken started. "I think it held something, but I couldn't see it properly. It also had a glowing eye. It was so dark, and it vanished so quickly. I don't think I can tell you more details." She made a sudden pause, her eyes slightly widening. "It actually looked like me…" she muttered, almost in shock.

"I guess we can link that with the claw marks, then?" Toy Bonnie said, waiting for anyone to confirm the obvious. There were several silent nods.

"This house is weird and creepy when you think about it." White Fang mumbled. "With these usual blackouts, that thing you saw, the claw marks, that creepy plushie Erik takes with him everywhere…" She was right. At first everything seemed normal. When she thought about it, Chica realized that strange things started to happen ever since Plushtrap mysteriously left.

"And not to mention Plushtrap being gone." she told the rest.

"You're making fun of me by thinking of such a ridiculous name for a toy." Springtrap grumped, giving Chica one of his mad glares.

" _This is not the moment for your complaints."_ Daisuke quieted him, noticing how everything seemed to start making sense. " _Did any of you see Plushtrap since he left?"_ Those who saw him before his disappearance shook their heads in denial. _"I see. It all starts building up now."_ He soon got all the animatronics' attention, except for BB's and JJ's. They were focused on other things, mostly because they didn't really know what was going on, and didn't want to at all. _"Since Plushtrap left, the house started getting strange. First the blackout, then that creature Chica saw, then the claw marks. And the sudden storm seemed out of place as well."_

"Said that way, it _does_ make sense." Toy Bonnie realized out loud. "And it's creepy…"

A small moment of silence was broken by BB as he asked, "Guys, do you mind if we leave for a moment?"

"Oh sure." White Fang told him. "You can go for a walk if you don't want to be here."

"Great!" he chirped, walking towards the door. JJ glanced at him, then did a double take and soon started following him, yelling, "Hey, wait for me!"

The two animatronic kids were at the entrance hall, deciding if they should go upstairs or stay there. As they were talking about their stuff, JJ looked at front and froze for a moment. Confused about the sudden halt, BB also looked at front. More than shocked, he seemed surprised. Plushtrap stood in front of them, just an inch in front of the X. Puzzled, BB tilted his head with a frown, action that Plushtrap mirrored.

"We should tell the others," JJ whispered to him, but he paid no attention. Instead, he gave light steps towards the living plushie. However, Plushtrap turned around in less than a second and ran towards the doorway that led to the game room. BB and JJ didn't hesitate to follow it. When they entered, the plush version of Springtrap was atop of the drawer, staring at the little animatronics.

"Hey, come here!" BB yelled, walking towards the drawer. Emitting a short, purr-like noise, Plushtrap hoped off the drawer and dashed towards another room. By all odds, that thing was fast. Awed at its speed, BB and JJ took some small seconds to continue the chase. Obviously enough, Plushtrap was nowhere to be seen. It was up to the two to figure out where it was hiding. They immediately went to the room in front of them, which was the empty one. Plushtrap stood atop of the showcase. It almost seemed like it was toying with the robotic kids.

"Hey, cut it out!" JJ yelled, already sounding angry. Neither she nor BB even questioned how Plushtrap got up there in first place. The plushie responded with a harsh caw. It seemed like it wasn't capable of speech and communicated through noises. Ironically, it was just like Springtrap before he got his voicebox.

"What?" BB inquired. "We cannot understand you if you only make noises."

Plushtrap hissed and hopped down the showcase at amazing speed, disappearing out of sight instantly. JJ decided not to lose more time trying to catch it, and immediately went to alert the others. "Guys!" she yelled as she roughly opened the door.

"What is it?" Bonnie asked, puzzled at such sudden entrance.

"We saw Plushtrap! He was moving! On his _own_!"

Chica blinked several times. "W-what?" she stuttered. "But that's not possible… is it?" She almost looked like she took it as a joke or a lie, and it forced JJ to put a serious expression. Well, as serious as it could be.

"Don't look at me as if I was lying!" she yelled. "He was running around and making noises!"

As they tried to uphold their truth, Daisuke could have sworn he saw a blur entering through the open door, but he was more focused on what JJ was saying. "You guys have to believe us!" JJ kept yelling.

A short, low bellow put everything into silence.

All at once, the animatronics ever so slowly turned towards the noise. Plushtrap watched them while standing on the table. "See? I told you he was alive!" JJ growled. No one said a word. They were in awe. And also somewhat scared. It was a living plushie, few things creepier than that could be found in a normal house.

"It looks ridiculous." Springtrap deadpanned like it was nothing, receiving a few frowns from the animatronics.

"Well, I think that's it." Toy Bonnie said dryly, a faint hint of fear flowing though his voice. "I'm outta here."

" _No one is going anywhere."_ Daisuke commanded. " _We have to figure out what is going on here."_

"It's a plushie that has life of its own!" Toy Chica yelled, aghast. "Do you really think we want to be around it?!"

Curiously, Bonnie slowly walked towards Plushtrap, resulting in the stuffed toy to start hissing menacingly. "I don't think it's friendly." Bonnie muttered the obvious.

"Hey, how are we going to figure out anything?" Chica asked. "This thing cannot talk."

"Guess we'll have to think of something." Freddy told her. "Springtrap couldn't talk either and we managed to understand him."

"Unlike this thing, I was friendly towards you." Springtrap sassed.

"Hey," Erik's sheepish voice said from upstairs. "What's going on –" He stopped as he entered and saw Plushtrap glaring at him. Not speaking a word, he silently went back to his room, eyes wide. Someone like him should have never seen Plushtrap that way.

"Oh great, now he'll be scared for life." Mangle made an eye roll.

"It's all his fault!" BB said angrily, walking towards Plushtrap, and completely ignoring its hisses that were turning into high-pitched growls.

"Guys, what's with all that noise there?" they heard Claire calling from upstairs. She came into the salon along with Dustin, and both ended up perplexed. "Is… is that thing _alive_?" she almost yelled in terror.

"Sure he is." JJ told her almost carelessly.

"No. No, no, no, no, _no_. I'm not going to have that thing around." Dustin said angrily.

"So… what do we do?" Mangle asked him with a frown.

"I don't care, just take that thing out of the house!"

"I'm on it!" BB yelled at him as he ran towards Plushtrap, who immediately ran way out of the room before anyone could even turn around. Being the fastest out of them all, Foxy took the chase instantly. He stopped to look at where the bickering plushie had gone to. A soft warble was heard from upstairs, where Plushtrap waited. Foxy chased after him, followed by a very annoyed Dustin.

Plushtrap dashed towards the end of the hall, and when Foxy and Dustin arrived there, it was out of sight. The animatronic fox looked around, but found no sight of the stuffed animal. Suddenly, Plushtrap jumped from behind the couch and ran past Dustin, directing towards Erik's room. Worried, Dustin got there as fast as he could.


	7. Not The Time To Be Brave

Each of his steps as Dustin ran towards Erik's room echoed with preoccupation. However, it disappeared as soon as he pushed the ajar door open. His rush stopped, and his overwhelmed expression became full of surprise. Plushtrap was just joyfully walking in circles around Erik, purring like a love-struck kitty and cuddling the kid with his head. Erik just stood speechless, being too confused to know how to react to the sudden affection by the troublesome plushie.

Dustin heard Foxy's angry voice mumbling things as he ran towards the room. "Where be that landlubber, I be gonna –" Hook raised in a menacing manner, Foxy immediately stopped next to Dustin when he saw the rather adorable scene.

"H-hey, you know? He's actually really friendly." Erik said between slight giggles. He couldn't help but smile at Plushtrap's affection. He literally transformed from a brawler to a little pet. It also took a smile from Dustin, and made Foxy immediately calm down. "Alright, I take back what I said. He's not so creepy now." Erik admitted, caressing Plushtrap's large head as if it was a little dog while it kept purring with happiness.

"Is everything alright up there?" Claire called from downstairs, the animatronics near here with expectant eyes. Dustin looked over at her and replied, "Not to worry, everything's fine. Turns out this little devil only wanted some company." His sister frowned, unsure as to what he actually meant. Some of the animatronics had curious expressions as well.

After the confusion was cleared, everyone except for Zach (probably sleeping or just being lazy) was at the salon again. "So? What are we going to do with this little guy?" Freddy asked Dustin as he looked at Plushtrap, still bonding with his new friend. Erik didn't seem bothered at all by the fact that Plushtrap was alive. It was likely because his Fredbear plush, Buddy, already had life of its own. Plushtrap was, however, way more active, since Buddy only talked and looked around but didn't move.

"Well, I- I don't know anymore…" Dustin replied thoughtfully, scratching the back of his head. Erik put those puppy eyes, the same ones he put whenever he wanted something. He knew no one could say no. Dustin soon realized everyone was looking at him that way. It was indeed a relief that Erik could have someone – or something – to play with, other than Buddy. Something that was alive and had emotions. "Oh, what am I saying. Of course this thingie can stay." Dustin finally accepted, earning a huge smile from Erik that warmed up his heart. Plushtrap appeared to be smiling as well, as if that permanent grin it had wasn't enough.

Zach was heard yawning as he came out of his room and came in the salon. He slowed down a bit as he saw all the animatronics there, but his attention, what a surprise, was on Erik. "Oh what? Made friends with another lifeless thing?" he sneered at him. Plushtrap hissed at him, gritting its sharp teeth. It sure did erase that glaring look out of Zach's face.

"As if you had any better friends…" Erik muttered, looking away.

"At least my friends are _real_." Zach spread the word.

"Zach!" Claire yelled, making the elder son wince a bit at the sudden scream. She again gave him that death stare, making him walk towards the kitchen while he mumbled things. As he passed by, he received several annoyed look from Daisuke, Springtrap, Mangle, Toy Bonnie, Chica and Toy Freddy.

"He just gets worse…" Mangle said for himself, ears lowered in annoyance. There were some giggles at the commentary.

* * *

When night fell, there was a blackout again. It really didn't surprise anyone. As usual, the clock started its chime again. It wasn't pleasant at all to hear it echoing all over the house late at night.

"I hate that clock." Erik complained, swinging his legs as he sat on the bed.

"Who wouldn't? It's really creepy." Chica told him.

Erik seemed less secure of himself since Plushtrap wasn't with him. He, as all the animatronics wanted the plushie to be male, was sitting on his chair, probably resting or something alike. All Erik knew was that he wasn't moving anymore.

Bonnie's eyes widened with an idea. "Hey, should we look around the halls? Maybe we see that monster walking around." He said it as if it was a joke, causing Chica to give him an angry glare.

"It's not funny, you know that there's something wrong going on here." she almost yelled at him. And everyone fell into silence when, right then, quick and steady, deep steps were heard outside the room.

"What… was that…" Chica asked in shock, her eyes looking around with fright. Erik held Buddy close. Those steps weren't made by a person, and none of the animatronics present in the house would make steps that deep. It sounded like something large.

"Do you think…" Bonnie started, but stopped briefly out of fear before continuing. "It's that thing you saw…?"

"I hope it isn't…" Chica whispered, feeling like she was being observed.

"But… come on, nothing can be walking around here now," Erik made a fake giggle that quickly vanished. "…right?" More footsteps were heard. Closer. Erik held the golden plushie even tighter.

As the animatronics looked around, the little kid heard something near him. He couldn't tell what it was, but it came from behind him. Curious, but most of all frightened, he flashed the light behind the bed.

Something quickly jumped off and went under it.

Erik sprang up from the bed with a short shriek, making the animatronics turn around immediately. "What happened?" Freddy asked him.

"T-there was something there…" Erik said weakly, pointing a shaky arm at the empty bed.

"Alright, I don't like this anymore." Chica stated.

Without anyone noticing, Zach quietly tip-toed inside the room. He wore a grin from ear to ear. Walking past the startled animatronics without notifying them or his presence, he stopped right behind Erik, and screamed atop of his lungs. The little kid gave a terrified screech as the four animatronics screamed at once. Erik tripped and ended up sitting on the bed again, almost dropping the flashlight. Zach broke into laugher.

"You little- _are you crazy_?! _"_ Chica yelled with rage. Erik was breathing rapidly, his eyes watering. "Look what you've done!" Chica scolded the bully brother as she gave Erik a broken look.

"I hope ye be happy." Foxy growled at Zach.

Zach turned to leave, still laughing. He was, however, stopped by Erik's voice as he muttered, "You're an idiot."

His brother slowly turned around, and let out a dry, "What?"

Erik didn't reply immediately. He was shaking. "You're an idiot." he repeated, clearer.

Zach smirked. "At least it's better than being a crybaby."

"I'm not a crybaby!" Erik snapped.

"Prove it."

More footsteps were heard outside, again silencing everything. Zach grinned again, having an idea in mind. "Well, if you aren't a crybaby as you say, I dare you to go to the end of the hall. Without the flashlight."

Erik gave him no reply. He looked down, still shaking, still breathing heavily. "Come on, you don't have to do this." Freddy tried to stop him from accepting the dare.

"I'll go."

The sudden answer caused impression in Zach, but he erased it soon. "Work for me." He motioned with his hand at the door. "Go on."

Taking a deep breath, Erik left the door on the nightstand and came out, not making eye contact with his brother. The animatronics just stared at him, worried. There was indeed something unnatural in that house. It could be a great danger to be outside.

With almost no hesitation, Erik started to shyly walk towards the end of the hall. The further he got, the slower he moved, out of fear. He suddenly regretted it all. He looked behind. Zach was watching him, arms crossed and grinning. Some more footsteps were heard, but that time, it really scared Erik. The reason? Zach's smile disappeared and became a shocked expression.

Ever so slowly, Erik turned to look in front of him. At the end of the hall, several dots floated in the darkness. One was a bright orange, and next to it, two purple ones glanced at the child. Erik took a step back. With no warning, a lightning bolt rumbled outside, causing a shiny white light to enter through the window and reveal what stood there. Erik could only see two deteriorated, bulky figures staring at him and gleaming teeth before he ran away towards his room, screaming. Zach also ran into the bedroom, and closed the door shut with a hard slam right after his brother entered.


	8. Attacked

"What happened?" all animatronics asked loudly in unison after seeing the two kids enter the room like that. Zach looked at them with a shocked expression as he sat in front of the door while holding it closed and breathing heavily.

"T-there- there was something in the halls…" he managed to say, slightly trembling. Erik had gone next to the nightstand, holding his golden plushie so tightly it could burst at any moment. His eyes watered, a single tear streamed down his cheek. He already had enough fears. But killer machines, as far he could tell, roaming around his house? That was too much for him to handle. Way too much.

"I- I think someone should go check…" Bonnie muttered with a small hint of fright on his voice as his eyes wandered around the room. Even though Chica knew it wasn't precisely the right moment, a smirk grew on her face.

She looked at Zach and cheekily said, "Why don't _you_ go?"

Zach noticed the looks he was getting. Mocking grins were being shot at him like darts. That scared look flew out of the kid's face as he shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows into an angry expression. He had his own rule for situations like that – _I can make fun of you, but you can't make fun of me._

Without speaking a word, he walked with angered footsteps towards the nightstand. The animatronics followed his movements, looking more surprised each second. Zach abruptly picked up the flashlight and walked towards the door. His little brother didn't even look at him; he was too frightened to even look up. Buddy, by the other hand, followed Zach with its glowing eyes.

He stopped at the door, ready to flash the light. But he didn't do anything, just stood there instead. He glanced at the flashlight, then at the hall, then at the animatronics. "We're waiting…" Chica said mockingly. Zach made a wry face and looked back at the obscure, silent hall. He counted to three on his mind, turned on the flashlight-

Two glowing eyes disappeared into the far corner.

The not-so-brave-anymore kid turned away from the door the moment he saw something moving in the distance. The animatronics weren't smirking at him anymore after seeing his reaction. "I'm telling you, there _is_ something out there."

Meanwhile, unaware of all the fear that built up upstairs, BB and JJ were walking around the hall, bored and not knowing what to do. "I want something to happen now," BB said. "Then we'd have something to do."

"Yeah, this is boring." JJ agreed. "If only Plushy kept moving like before…" Plushtrap hadn't moved in the whole night. It was possible that he was active only during the day.

Suddenly, a low and short squawk coming from the salon caught the animatronic children's attention. Never having heard that noise before, they looked at each other worriedly and slowly tip-toed towards the door. Carefully, BB opened it and peeked in just in case. What he saw made him freeze in a gasp.

Dustin was peacefully sleeping in the couch, and near the kitchen, were the most nightmare-inducing monsters BB and JJ had ever seen in their whole life.

They were Bonnie and Chica reflected in the mirror of Hell. What lied to be Bonnie was a slightly bigger version of him. It was a bluish-purple and terribly broken-down animatronic rabbit. Many of its features were exaggerated beyond reality, such as dangerously sharp teeth, big jaw, and razor-sharp claws. Parts of it had a lighter purple shade such as the muzzle, inner ears, and belly, much like the original Bonnie. A large tear extended from its upper torso to its hips, almost completely revealing the endoskeleton beneath. Its overall body shape was much different from Bonnie, being much more squared off and flat. Its arms and legs had multiple smaller rips throughout. Its right hand and left foot were completely stripped off, showing yet more of the endoskeleton frame. Both kneecaps were missing as well as the ankles. Its head was separated into two parts, giving it a gaping jaw, which sported the two sets of razor-sharp teeth. It also had slightly bent, metallic whiskers, two on each side, and a black nose more realistic in design than Bonnie's. A large part of the material around its eyes, which were exactly the same as Springtrap's when he was possessed by Drago, was completely missing.

The other one was the monstrous version of Chica. The damages to its upper body were relatively minor, but its suit's lower torso was completely severed from its hips. Its bib was tapered off at the bottom, almost entirely being reduced to shreds. Its lower legs were painted entirely orange and its kneecaps were missing. It had orange feet featuring multiple tears that exposed its endoskeleton. That thing held a cupcake like the original Chica, but it had been modified with a mouth of razor-sharp teeth and glaring yellow eyes. Its beak was much larger and wider than Chica's or Toy Chica's. The left side of its mask was almost nonexistent, exposing much of the endoskeleton's frame and wiring. Its eyes were gray and metallic, one of them with an orange pupil but the other lacking one. It also had four seemingly identical tufts of feathers on the top of its head, which were partially shredded.

They were terrifying, deadly… nightmare-ish. True Nightmares. They did not seem to speak, just like Plushtrap, and instead kept making growls, snarls, hisses and snorts in order to communicate. They were dangerously close to the slumbering Dustin. BB and JJ feared something could happen to him, but there wasn't much any of them could do against large robots designed to kill.

"…what do we do…?" JJ whispered, her voice cracking out of fear. A quick glance at those beasts was enough to give someone a heart attack or make their blood run cold.

"I-I don't know…" BB replied in the same tone. Maybe they both were permanently smiling, but anyone could easily tell that they had never been more scared than they were now.

"But we have to-!" JJ yelled with overwhelming preoccupation before BB pulled her away and hid behind the door. The two deadly animatronics looked at the door with a low and constant deep growl. They stared at it for some moments before returning to their 'conversation'. By the manner their growls expressed, it seemed as if they were trying to impose to each other. Nightmare Bonnie snapped his jaws in the air in front of Nightmare Chica, causing a loud snap to echo around the salon. Nightmare Chica replied with a prolonged hiss.

"We've got to warn the others," BB whispered to JJ, who nodded fearfully. Making no noise, they walked towards the different rooms, each one housing some of the animatronics. They went to the almost empty one, in which Daisuke, Springtrap and Golden Freddy were slumbering. Well, all of them except Springtrap, who was staring at the walls.

"Spring!" BB called with a whisper, having the animatronic to face him. "You have to come, there are some kind of… _monsters_ out there!" Having in mind how lowly he spoke and how worried he looked, Springtrap immediately knew it was serious. He wasn't going to wake the rest up, however, until he figured out what was going on.

"What do you mean by monsters?" he asked lowly.

"They were like Bonnie and Chica, but with sharp claws and teeth!"

Springtrap tilted his head a little. The statement sounded crazy. The only way to believe such thing was seeing it. "Come on!" JJ urged him, still keeping her voice low. They all were at the door, it seemed like neither BB nor JJ wanted to open it again. Gaining confidence, BB decided to do it. Ever so slowly, he pulled the white door open.

There was nothing.

Surprised, he opened the door faster and entered, looking around. Only Dustin was there, which was a relief. Those Nightmare animatronics didn't seem to have any interest on hurting or killing him. "But… But they were here!" JJ yelled. Springtrap was doubtful. One thing was a moving plushie, another completely different thing were their animatronic friends revamped into killers.

"Are you sure you weren't having a nightmare?" he asked with a slight frown.

BB turned to him exasperatedly. "No! They were there!"

"Yeah!" JJ supported him. "It's the same with Plushtrap, you guys didn't believe us and look now!"

Springtrap was unsure as if to believe it or not. He had to go deeper into the issue to judge. "Try to describe them better." he requested.

"Okay." BB calmed down and proceeded to explain. "They were identical to Bonnie and Chica, but were really broken and had long teeth and claws. They also made lots of creepy noises." Right when he finished his description, a short caw was heard. It startled the animatronics at first, but soon they realized it was just Plushtrap.

"Hey, you scared us!" JJ complained, but Plushtrap paid no attention. He kept cooing and hissing around the animatronics, coming in and out of the salon nervously.

"I think he's trying to tell us something…" Springtrap realized out loud. At that, his plush counterpart gave a louder caw as if telling him he was right. The animatronics came out, following him. Plushtrap glanced upstairs.

"You mean… those things are up there?" BB inquired, receiving a nod from Plushtrap.

In the bedroom, the scare hadn't gone away yet. The animatronics were still trying to figure out an explanation of what Zach and Erik saw. As they mumbled things to each other, the older brother looked out of the door, searching for something that could be moving around, while Erik held the flashlight, still looking down. Buddy sat next to him.

" _Are you still scared?"_

Erik nodded sheepishly.

" _You have nothing to fear as long as you know what to do."_

Erik glanced at the plushie. "What do you mean?"

" _There are evil things out there. You must be cautious."_

"W-what kind of things?"

" _Bad, bad things you shouldn't mess around with. They're up to get you."_

"You're scaring me…"

" _I promise nothing will happen to you or your friends."_

"But… what are they?"

Buddy took a time to reply. _"No one knows."_

Suddenly, a shriek was heard from Zach. Erik and the animatronics looked at him reflexively, but turned out it wasn't a monster but only BB, JJ, Springtrap and Plushtrap.

"Hey, calm down, it's us!" BB yelled at Zach.

"I see how tough you are." Springtrap mocked him, earning a chuckle from the animatronics but an angry look from Zach.

Plushtrap ran cheerfully towards Erik, who stood up and left Buddy and the flashlight, pointed at the center of the room, on the nightstand. "Hey," Erik greeted him, patting his head.

"What an attention-seeker…" Springtrap muttered.

"At least he's friendlier than you." Chica laughed. Springtrap just rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Is there any problem?" Freddy asked BB and JJ, finding it weird that they came to the bedroom so late.

"Yes, a huge one." JJ urgently replied. "There are monstrous versions of you lurking around the house!"

Erik and Zach looked at her with eyes wide as bowling balls. "You saw them too?" Erik asked lowly.

"Yes, they were horrifying!"

"That be no good…" Foxy mumbled, ears down.

Plushtrap's ears sharply moved up as he looked at the bed, and started growling lowly. Everyone noticed there was a faint noise coming from there. Hesitating, Erik slowly moved the flashlight towards the bed. Everyone became speechless as the light showed three diabolic, miniature versions of Freddy with sharp teeth and gaping jaws sitting and twitching on the bed, emitting a very low scream-like noise. The one in the center had its chest ripped open, the one to the left had a large portion of missing fur over its glowing white eyes, and the one at the right had its lower arm uncovered.

As soon as the flashlight was pointed at them, one by one they left the bed and hid under it in the blink of an eye. One moment they were there, the next they were gone. "What…?" Freddy managed to mutter, shocked at seeing such demented versions of him in front of his eyes. Plushtrap was still growling even though the little Freddies were gone.

No one knew what to say. The confusion and fear were too big for them. As Zach stared at the bed, a warm huff of air waved his brown hair, sending a chill down his spine. He reflexively closed the door with a gasp. "They're here!" he warned, knowing it could be nothing else besides a Nightmare animatronic.

"Why don't you just leave the door?" Chica asked.

"These doors cannot be kept closed," Erik answered her.

"Then let's just keep them closed for the rest of the night!" Bonnie yelled, starting to get way too nervous.

"Have you seen those things?" BB told him. "They'd break through the doors!"

"Then how comes they don't do it now?" Zach sassed.

"They are toying with us." Freddy realized.

Zach pressed his ear against the door, hearing deep footsteps going away. "I think it's gone…" he said, slowly opening the door.

* * *

 **I'd want to say sorry for not updating the third story. I just realized that I'm going back to school in a bit less than a month (when it's summer I literally forget about everything related to school…) and I wanted to have this fic finished before it started again.**

 **I'll update it, promise.**


	9. Bully Confrontation

The alarm clock sounded. Relief rose upon the room, the animatronics had never felt so relieved in their whole life. The alarm activating was a dream becoming true for them. Everyone let out a long sigh, the night was over and those monsters were gone.

For now.

"This was the most horrible night ever…" Bonnie muttered.

"Yeah. And we couldn't even rest." Chica complained, noticing how it was 6 AM.

Erik glanced at the bed. He was now afraid of his own bedroom. He knew those monsters were real, he was terrified. He didn't even feel comfortable around the animatronics anymore, even if he knew they were completely harmless. He could only wonder where those beasts came from or why they were at his house, and what they wanted. It didn't make any sense. Everything was fine until-

…until the animatronics came. It was a possibility that their presence awakened the Nightmares somehow, but being just a kid, Erik could not understand. He wasn't going to blame his friends, nor have hard feelings towards them. After all, he knew it wasn't their fault at all that they most likely brought blood-thirsty creatures to his beloved home…

"I don't feel safe anymore…" he admitted. Plushtrap nuzzled him. He just wanted the little kid to be safe, and so did Buddy. "I'm so glad you're alive," Erik told the plush toy as he cooed at him. Springtrap made out a little smile.

"I saw that," Chica told him mockingly. "You find Plushy cute."

"I don't." Springtrap deadpanned.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say."

Zach yawned. "I'm outta here."

"Don't act as if nothing happened," Freddy sneered at him. "We all know that you were scared."

Zach just scowled at him and left without saying anything. Seconds after, he peeked in and said, "I'm not coming anywhere near here again, _ever_. Take note of that."

"Thank you." Erik said dryly. "It's not like we need you here anyways…" His brother grimaced and left towards his bedroom to try and get a good sleep.

"Well," Chica sighed. "It sure is tiring to fend off monsters, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" Erik said drowsily. He could barely even keep his eyes open, it was clear he was really tired, and so were the others.

"Ye should get some sleep, lad." Foxy advised him.

"…here?" the boy muttered fearfully, looking at the bed as if the thing itself was a monster. Plushtrap nuzzled his arm, silently telling him it was all okay, he'd be with him all the time. Erik still hesitated. He had seen diabolic versions of Freddy there with his very own eyes, he was afraid they could still come out. When he thought further about it, he had Buddy and Plushtrap with him anyways. If anything happened, they'd protect him, he was sure of that. "Alright." he finally accepted.

"Meanwhile, we should be telling the others what happened." Springtrap suggested the animatronics, who seemed content with the idea. They really weren't going to keep such monstrosities wandering freely around the house as a secret.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Erik and Zach were fully awake. They were going to the park with Claire so they could meet up with their friends. Their mother was already aware of what happened last night, and knew the kids needed to be out for a while to calm down.

"Please just don't destroy the house while I'm out," Claire told Dustin sarcastically at the door with a chortle.

"With the animatronics around, I can't promise anything." Dustin simpered. Claire rolled her eyes with a smile and left with the two kids following her.

"I'm so glad that jerk left." Mangle complained right after Dustin closed the door.

"Oh come on." Dustin said flippantly. "Maybe he can be a bit of a jerk-"

"Only a bit?" Mangle cut him off.

"Okay, okay. He can be a real jerk." Mangle nodded at the correction. "But he's still a good guy. Sometimes."

"I won't believe that until I see it with my own eyes."

"Trust me, one of these days, you'll see how great he can be."

In the meantime, Springtrap, Daisuke and Golden Freddy investigated the claw marks in the wall and the sightings from last night. " _Why didn't you tell us anything?"_ Daisuke asked Springtrap, sounding quite annoyed.

"It's better if no one knew this until now." the golden rabbit told him calmly, looking at the scratched wall.

" _We could've done something."_

"You couldn't." Springtrap stated, turning to face him. "In fact, I doubt any of us can do anything against those things. I haven't seen them yet, but I've heard what they look like. And by looking at this," He turned to the wall. "You can get an idea of how dangerous they are."

"He's right." Golden Freddy said. Daisuke and Springtrap looked at him. "I can tell, those creatures out there aren't anything we've faced before. This is a whole new story." No one said anything else. "Who knows how many of them may be lurking these halls. It's possible that we all are facing our demon-selves."

" _How many of them have you heard of?"_ Daisuke asked Springtrap.

"BB and JJ saw 'Bonnie' and 'Chica', and the rest of us saw small versions of 'Freddy'. Nothing else."

" _I see."_ Daisuke mumbled. _"We should go downstairs. The others must hear this."_

He and Springtrap went to reunite with the rest of animatronics. Golden Freddy was the last to follow, as he gave one last glance at the claw marks. Before he left, however, he heard a low voice.

" _You_ s _eem worried about them."_

He looked around him, but there was no one. He never heard that voice before, soft, melodic, charming one could say. Yet it was echoing, which gave it a haunting feel. Golden Freddy looked behind. The only other thing besides him was the Fredbear plushie that had been left atop of the grandfather clock. Its eyes were staring at Golden Freddy.

He knew it was the one talking. Who else could it be? Even if he was confused, he still asked, "Who is 'them'?"

" _The Nightmares."_

It was probably referring to the monstrous animatronics from last night. "What do you know about them?"

" _There's so much I can tell, however the Nightmares are not to be spoken about."_

"Why not?"

" _The Nightmares are not to be spoken about."_ the plushie repeated, and its glare seemed to have sharpened. _"Ever."_ After that, its glowing irises disappeared. No more words came. Golden Freddy stared at it for a moment. Something wasn't right about that toy. Its intentions did not seem good at all.

* * *

Zach kicked a rock out of the way. "Are we there yet?" he asked impatiently.

"You act as if we've never been here." Claire told him, somewhat annoyed. "Be patient, will you?"

Zach grunted.

They finally arrived. The park was big, it had a playground, a lawn and a clearing in which three kids played with a rubber ball, one trying to snatch it out of another. "Yes!" Zach laughed. "The gang's here! I thought it would be another boring day, what a relief." He ran towards his friends gleefully, but Erik sure didn't share the joy.

"Great…" he muttered. "Goodbye peace."

"You don't need to go there if you don't want to," Claire told him, walking towards a bench. "Come, sit with me." They both sat down on a bench near the entrance of the park. The sight was great, the whole place could be seen from there. "So tell me, what's with those friends of Zach?" Claire asked gently.

"They're just like him." Erik muttered angrily. "Always making fun of me and messing with everyone. And they're brutes."

"Are they really that bad?"

"Yes…"

Claire looked at the group. Maybe those guys weren't a good influence for Zach, or maybe Zach wasn't a good influence for them, either way their conduct was an audacity and everyone close to them knew it.

"Catch it!" the oldest kid in the group, Owen, a bulky chestnut-haired boy with glaring blue eyes, wearing a red shirt, yelled as he tossed the ball to the one standing several feet away from him, Noah, a much slimmer kid with light brown hair and brown eyes, dressed in a green shirt.

"Got it, got it!" he yelled, moving to the left in order to catch the ball with both hands.

"Watch out, there she goes!" Owen warned him as the third in the group, Diana, ran towards him with a giggle. She had very short brunette hair and greenish-brown eyes, wearing a dark blue shirt.

Diana launched towards Noah, trying to snatch the ball out of his hands, but he moved away and tossed it back to Owen. "At least give me the chance!" Diana complained playfully.

"It's your own fault for not being fast enough!" Owen sneered, holding the rubber ball up with both hands. Zach came from behind him and slapped the ball out of his hands, slightly scaring him.

"Hey peeps," he greeted.

"Gosh, where did you even come from?" Owen asked him as Diana went to get the ball back.

"Obviously, I appeared out of thin air." Zach said sarcastically.

"Hey, wanna play?" the girl asked, bouncing the ball with a little smirk.

"Why not?" Zach accepted.

"Then go for it!" the brunette said as she tossed the rubber ball above him, Owen catching it. The game started over.

"I don't see how they can be bad." Claire said as she watched the group play.

"But they _are_ bad." Erik assured her. The ball came bouncing past them, Noah and Diana chasing it. Erik knew that without Claire, the constant jeers would've already started. He was profusely relieved she was with him.

"Hey Erik!" a young voice called. A little girl with brownish-blond hair, wearing a red ribbon, with playful blue eyes peeked from the back of the bench.

"Jade!" Erik smiled. He looked at Claire. "Mom, can I go with her?"

"Go on, it's all fine with me." Claire said gleefully. The two kids ran off towards the playground, giggling all the time. After they left, Claire's phone started ringing. She reached out for her pocket and picked it up, seeing how Dustin was the one calling. She stood up and started walking around the park, talking to her brother.

"So what have you been doing?" Jade asked Erik as they walked around, adjusting her ribbon.

"Nothing." the kid said. "Hey, you know what? The animatronics are in my house!" he then told her excitedly.

"No way! The real ones?" she inquired in surprise. Erik nodded. "Whoa, that's so cool! How is that even possible?"

"My uncle works along with them." Erik told her.

"You're so lucky, I wish the animatronics came to my house as well. I love them so much!"

Their attention was then driven to the clearing where Zach and the others had stopped playing to get a small rest. Two young kids, a girl and a boy, were approaching the group without noticing, as they were talking about something apparently interesting. While the little girl was in the middle of telling her friend something, she accidentally bumped against Owen. His smile disappeared and turned into a cheeky face as he turned around.

The little girl shook her head. "Sorry…" she apologized.

"Can't you see where you're going, kid?" Owen sassed at her.

"I-I'm sorry…" she repeated, feeling threatened. "I wasn't paying attention…"

"Keep your eyes in front, will ya?" Owen kept yelling at her. Grins appeared in the group. "You shouldn't even be here, this place is _ours._ "

"Hey, it's not yours!" the boy yelled.

"Well, now it is because I say so, understand?"

"Yeah, now get lost!" Zach shouted at them.

"Leave them alone!" Erik suddenly called.

"Oh, look who's here, it's the little man!" Noah sneered with a chuckle.

"Didn't expect him here, I thought he'd be too scared to even leave his home." Diana laughed.

Zach gestured them to be quiet and turned to his brother, putting up a careless expression. "Did you say something?" he asked coolly.

"No- I mean yes!" Erik stammered. "Leave them alone!" Zach kept his stare. "Please?"

"Yeah, you heard him, leave them alone!" Jade yelled.

Zach glared at her, erasing the angry look from her face. "So what are you going to do, big-baby-boo?" he sneered at Erik.

Angry at them, and knowing that Erik wouldn't fight back, Jade pushed him forward, making him stumble over Zach, almost sending him to the ground. "Oh, bad move." Diana gasped.

Zach shook his head. "Oh yeah?" he growled at Erik and Jade, who didn't hesitate on the slightest to run away from him as he chased them. Erik and Jade hid behind Claire, making Zach stop immediately.

"Hold on a second," she told Dustin, putting the phone down. "What is going on here?"

"He hit me!" Zach yelled, pointing at Erik.

"I didn't! He was messing with us and chasing us!"

Claire hurriedly put the phone to her ear. "Sorry Dustin, I need to hang up, I'll talk to you later." She put the phone back on her pocket. "It's always the same story with you!" Claire scolded Zach. "Your behavior is unacceptable. What were you thinking chasing your brother like that?" The elder son remained silent. Claire took a deep breath. "Let's go home. Zach, you are staying in your bedroom until tomorrow."

"What?" Zach gasped.

"You heard me. Let's go."

With a grunt, Zach followed her, giving his brother a mad glare as he passed by. "I thought you were very brave." Jade told him heartedly. Erik just smiled sadly.

"Hey," a voice called. It was the girl from before. "Thank you."


	10. Preparing For The Night

"I think Plushy knows something."

BB and JJ had noticed how eerily Plushtrap acted whenever the gang talked about the Nightmares. The animatronic kids were sure he knew something about them, something important, and wanted to warn them.

"Do you know how many of them are there?" BB asked Plushtrap, and for their happiness the plushie nodded, hurriedly. He looked at the originals and pointed at them.

"So there are demon versions of us?" Bonnie asked, and Plushtrap confirmed with a nod. He then looked at Golden Freddy, pointing at him. "And a demon version of him?" Plushtrap nodded again.

"Phew, glad to know we don't have demonic versions wandering around." Toy Bonnie sighed.

"Yeah, I can't imagine myself being like…" Toy Chica trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I don't know, like a monster."

"Just imagining how I could be…" Mangle wondered, seeming to shiver afterwards. "I'm freaky enough already."

"And what about us? We… couldn't look like monsters, could we?" JJ said with a smiling frown. "Nah, of course not."

"Not monsters in appearance," Toy Freddy told her. "But monsters in personality indeed. JJ gave him an annoyed "mh" as White Fang giggled gently.

"There is something wrong going on here…" Golden Freddy thought aloud, getting everyone to look at him expectantly. "Remember that plushie Erik is so attached to? It talked to me." Wide eyes full of surprise filled the animatronics' expressions. Golden Freddy closed his hollow eyes as he pondered. "It must be because we're one and the same. It seemed to be keeping the 'Nightmares', the animatronics we've seen, as a secret. There is something being hidden from us, something bad."

Daisuke was about to say something when the entrance door opened. "We're here," Claire announced

"Welcome back." Dustin greeted as he came out the salon. Soon after Claire entered, Zach stomped past her towards his room, scowling at the animatronics as he passed by.

"What happened?" Dustin asked in confusion.

Without even turning, his nephew sassily growled, " _Everything_." He entered his room and closed the door harshly, some of the animatronics winced.

"And _he's_ the one who's angry…" Claire mumbled irately.

"Don't tell me, he's been a jerk again, right?" Bonnie guessed. All the animatronics knew perfectly well how he acted. Too well, maybe.

Claire only directed him a sideways nod as she went upstairs, Erik sheepishly entering with a lost glance. Dustin closed the door behind him. "He didn't do anything to worry about, did he?" he asked him worriedly. Erik turned to look at him, though his gaze was fixed on the blue carpet. He shook his head before heading to his bedroom, Plushtrap following.

Dustin heaved a long sigh. "Zach is incorrigible. Someday he'll do something out of the line. Maybe you guys can help me deal with him?" The looks on the animatronics' faces told him all he needed to know: the answer was a direct no.

"I'm sorry, I don't help jerks." Chica sassed, an angry nod from Toy Chica accompanying her.

"Yeah." Bonnie agreed reluctantly.

"Oh, come on," Dustin huffed. "maybe he's a bit annoying but he hasn't done any wrong to you."

"He called me a fatso," Toy Freddy started, his voice in a counting tone.

" _He refers to me as a clown,"_ Daisuke continued.

"He called me 'Mango' more than once," Mangle kept on.

"We can be here all day telling you what he's done." Freddy concluded bitterly. Dustin took his time to answer, biting his bottom lip.

"Alright, alright. I won't say you aren't right. Just… give him time. He tends to act nicer once he gets to know someone better."

"He's Erik's brother and I don't see him being nice to the little boy." Toy Bonnie complained, crossing his arms.

"Forget it." Dustin finally gave up, returning to the salon.

"He be right, that lil' landlubber will cross the line." Foxy growled, directing a glare at the closed door of Zach's bedroom.

" _We should stay near Erik all the time while we're here."_ Daisuke muttered. _"His brother gives me a bad feeling."_

* * *

"Always the same." Erik complained to himself as he sat up on the bed. "Why does he have to be such an…. Idiot!" Plushtrap crooned at him. He wanted to make him feel better, but the plushie didn't really know how. "It's not fair. He's older, and bigger, and, and… and everything! Why does he take it on me? Why doesn't he bother someone who's not three years younger than him?"

He stood up and walked out of the bedroom. Plushtrap's gaze followed him with a head tilt, wondering where he was going. He came back soon after, holding Buddy on his arms. "At least I have you." he mumbled to the black eyed plushie before looking up at Plushtrap and giving him a warm smile. "And you too."

He sat back on the bed, leaving Buddy next to the Freddy plush, and laid down. "Why does all this happen to me?" he murmured sadly, as two white dots lit up on Buddy's eyes.

" _It makes you sad, doesn't it?"_

The kid looked at it. "Yes…"

" _You need to show him that you can defend yourself."_

"What do you mean?"

" _He takes it on you because he thinks you're weak. He thinks you can't defend yourself. You're too innocent, sometimes you need to show off."_

"I kinda did today, though it wasn't intentionally…"

" _You have to be strong. Make your own decisions, don't let others tell you what to do."_

* * *

Night fell upon. The four main animatronics had reunited at Erik's bedroom, that time accompanied by Daisuke. The kid was already profusely asleep, and the animatronics tried their best to not awaken him. They had made up a plan for tonight; the Toys and the rest would stay down, waiting to see if the Nightmares were around there. If that was the case, they'd give out a signal. If the Nightmares were upstairs, it'd be the other way around.

Bonnie had picked up the flashlight and was trying to turn it on, but seemed to have a bit of trouble. His hands were a bit too big, and the flashlight was pretty small. When he had finally managed to trigger the light, it shined right into his face, making him flinch back. He blinked a few times as Freddy asked, "Got it already?" The purple bunny blinked once more before nodding. "Good, you check the doors now. After you it will be Chica, since she's so eager to do it…" Indeed, Chica wanted to observe the halls as well. She seemed to be quite adventurous that night.

Meanwhile, downstairs, the Toys congregated outside the salon's door. Dustin was still sleeping there, he didn't seem all that concerned about the monsters lurking in the house. "If I see those things, I'm gonna show them who's boss here!" Mangle snarled.

"Have you seen those things' teeth?" BB whispered bitterly.

"So what if they have teeth? I have plenty as well."

"They're like, like…" JJ didn't know what to use as a reference. "Like knives!" she finally yelled, stretching her arms.

"By what you said, they do look creepy." Toy Bonnie said nervously. "If they appear, I'm definitely not going to be there to say hello."

"Ah, they can't be so terrifying." Toy Chica encouraged him.

If only she knew how wrong she was.

* * *

 **I am profusely sorry.**

 **I have tons of reasons for not having been active, so many I could be here until tomorrow writing them. To make it shorter, I basically started school, most of my homework is computer homework, I stay longer at classes, I don't have time to write, I caught a horrible cold, my sister's been writing a story she loves, and blah blah blah. You get it.**

 **I am indeed going to continue both stories, don't panic.**

 **Concerning FNaF World, I'm not sure if there'll be a Counterparts 5. FNaF World is a whole new thing, and it may be really difficult to mix it with the Counterparts universe. But we have a long wait, so, well, let's wait!**

 **That's all I had to say. See you hopefully soon!**


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